YogaForce By Annie Appleby– www.YogaForce.com
#MeToo: When I was a little Girl My Mom tried to teach me to be subtle… It didn’t take.
I was not going to engage in this discussion until I saw this clip from THE ELLEN SHOW
What she said rang so true, that I decided to fill you in on my story about #MeToo. When I graduated from UC Berkeley I attended a program called CAL IN THE CAPITAL. I applied and was accepted to work as an intern at ABC NEWS in Washington, DC. I floated around the newsroom with other interns my age and had a blast. After my first week, Peter Jennings passed me and I heard him ask “Who is that?” Then a man replied to him in a low voice, “She is an intern, Peter, leave her alone.” I did not know what was going on. I was young and naive. Soon, Mr. Jennings would ask me to stay in the studio so I could appear at a desk behind him so my friends in California could see me on TV. That was fun. But, I sensed something weird was going on and I felt uncomfortable.
One day, soon before he was ready to go on air he invited me into his big office… alone. That is when I took matters into my own hands, I “accidentally” spilled TAB all over his notes. Then I told him, I would rather work on the show 20/20 with Geraldo Rivera. I said, “I am not going to work with you, and you are going to reassign me downstairs right now or you, Mr. Jennings, will really have a problem!”
I went downstairs and met the medical reporter, he was working on a story about plastic surgery. The footage was really gross and I did not want to watch, so I went down the hall and met a producer for Geraldo who was working on a story about cocaine. I took one look and fell in love. He was 10 years my senior and he was single and it was a mutual attraction. We went out to lunch that day and dated for several years.
Jennings was older and married and attempted to use his power over me. I was not subtle and I protected myself. Fast forward many years later, when I got a job at Paramount Pictures, I was not so lucky. In the 1990’s sexual harassment was a thing but not something at the time the people in the HR Department took very seriously. My predatory boss brought in much more money to the company than I did. I just started doing yoga on the lot every day, it changed my life! I cashed out on my 401K after 5 years. Soon, I called my uncle who was an attorney and told him to trademark the name YogaForce. I remember the call, “Uncle Milt, do not tell Daddy; But, I am going to try and start a business called YogaForce and I think Yoga is going to change the world.” In 1995, I did just that.
Here is a Podcast about the good guys who helped me out along the way: https://unravelingpink.com/2017/10/23/napodpomo-huh-30-male-ally-moments-in-30-days/
* Note: If you are bored with these #MeToo stories, beware, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There will be an avalanche of stories crossing all forms of employment. Because it is and has always been a problem just now gaining some light.
###AEA
